“Surround him so he can’t escape!”
“Don’t worry. I had no intention of running away in the first place.”
Iberis easily dodged the man’s attack rushing towards him and stretched out both arms. A fierce gust of wind arose around him. The wind soon turned into an ice storm.
“Damn it, we can’t get close!”
“What are the snipers doing?”
“Melt it with fire!”
“Be careful! If that touches you, your body will freeze!”
The villains hesitated, blocked by the whirlwind made of thousands of ice crystals. Most of the organization members, except for the bosses, were C and D-class Espers, so they struggled to endure the cold air Iberis was emitting.
“…About a hundred in total, I guess?”
Iberis quickly assessed the number and positions of enemies while the villains were hesitating. He recognized many of them, as information on villains operating in N sector was updated quarterly. Judging by the occasional unfamiliar face, it seemed a few were either just starting their activities or had flowed in from other regions.
“What are you doing? Don’t give him any openings! Attack simultaneously!”
“You idiots! Don’t just stand there, shoot everything you’ve got, be it guns or mana!”
The bosses shouted loudly as their organization members showed signs of fear, overwhelmed by Iberis’s presence. They each poured their mana towards Iberis.
BOOM!
As Iberis’s and the bosses’ mana collided, the ground shook as if an earthquake had occurred, and the air violently fluctuated.
“Ugh.”
Iberis, successful in his defense, frowned and took a step back. Even for an S-class like him, it was difficult to completely offset the shock of mana from A and B-class individuals pouring in all at once.
Iberis endured the nauseating sensation and kicked the ground hard. He needed to reduce the number of enemies first. As he concentrated mana on his toes, a white light bloomed from his feet, and ice spikes shot up from all directions.
“Gah!”
“Argh, my foot!”
“N-no, my body…!”
People whose feet were pierced by the ice spikes shooting from the ground cried out in pain. They panicked and struggled as their bodies started to freeze from the wounds. Some fainted, unable to withstand the cold penetrating their bodies.
“Phew.”
After incapacitating about a dozen people with a single attack, Iberis this time launched dozens of ice arrows into the air. As he lowered his hand, an arrow rain fell from the sky.
“This is insane! Dodge!”
“Don’t be scared, counterattack!”
The organization members scattered in panic as ice arrows poured down on them. Those who couldn’t dodge in time fell, screaming or coughing up blood.
“Now it’s my turn.”
Iberis, who had neutralized nearly twenty people in an instant, rushed towards the enemy first. The mana waves flowing from his body gradually became fiercer, and white frost unsuited to the summer weather swirled throughout the open space.
“C-cold…”
“Hold on! Maintain formation!”
“Don’t give up! He’ll eventually tire out!”
“Keep pushing!”
The bosses encouraged their members and attacked Iberis. They couldn’t run away shamefully at this point. But all their attempts were in vain.
The fireballs flying towards Iberis froze in mid-air, and the lightning striking down at his head was blocked by a thick ice wall.
“Argh! M-my hand…!”
“Damn it! We can’t break through!”
Abilities are usually specialized in either attack or defense. Fire and wind are known to be strong in attack, while earth and water excel in defense, but ice is a bit different. Iberis’s ice ability, while belonging to the water attribute, excelled in both attack and defense. Just like now.
Iberis surrounded himself with thick ice walls to defend against enemy attacks, and used the moisture in the air to create and launch sharp ice spikes.
“This can’t be…”
The man who had first attacked Iberis muttered with an astonished face. They had already lost half their forces, but the opponent was unscathed. He gaped at the unbelievable scene before his eyes.
“Is this for real?”
“How can we beat that…”
The villains who had confidently rushed in, trusting only in their numbers, now wore terrified expressions after repeated failures. It felt like facing an absolutely impenetrable wall.
However, even Iberis couldn’t perfectly block all attacks. Under the relentless onslaught, a scratch appeared on his cheek, and blood flowed from his thigh where a bullet had grazed him.
“Ugh.”
Iberis, who had been subduing the organization members, suddenly frowned at the pain he felt in his arm. Judging by the mana wave felt from a distance, it seemed the sniper they had mentioned earlier had made a move.
“Such a cheap trick…”
Iberis muttered, pressing his hand against the wound after pulling out the dagger embedded in his shoulder. Judging by the black smoke rising, it was clearly poison. He froze the wounded shoulder to prevent the poison from spreading through his body and spat out the blood pooling in his mouth.
“What? Is that possible?”
“Monster…”
Those who witnessed the poison not affecting Iberis completely lost their will to fight. They finally realized that this was an opponent they could never defeat, no matter what they did.
“I-I’m out of here!”
“You said he was dying! This is different from what you told us!”
The villains who weren’t part of the organization started to flee one by one as their defeat seemed imminent. Of course, Iberis wasn’t about to let them go quietly.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Iberis gathered mana at his fingertips and flicked them. The white sphere that shot from his hand split into five or six ice bullets, flying towards and embedding themselves in the fleeing villains.
“Argh!”
Those hit by the mana all collapsed to the ground with a single scream. That was the end. In the blink of an eye, the villains’ entire bodies froze, their expressions disbelieving as they stiffened.
“How many did I miss…? Anyway, now it’s just you left.”
“Th-this can’t be. This is…”
The man who had led this assassination attempt on Iberis denied reality as he saw everyone except himself subdued by Iberis.
“Damn it, who said he had weakened!”
“Me, weakened? Nonsense.”
“Guh!”
“Who told you that? Answer if you don’t want to die.”
“I-I don’t know! I just took the request! They said something was wrong with your body, hic! That you couldn’t use your power like before, so kill you…”
The terrified man confessed, his body trembling. Iberis’s hand gripping his neck was so cold it felt like frost was forming in his brain.
“A request…”
Iberis narrowed his eyes at the man’s words. His silver-gray eyes, now bluer than usual, gleamed coldly.
“I-I was tricked! This is someone’s plot! So, pl-please forgive…”
“Forgive?”
“I’ll apologize if you want. I’ll compensate you generously, so please spare me! It won’t do you any good to be at odds with us, right?”
“What should I do? I’m already on bad terms with villains.”
“Th-that’s why, if it gets worse from here, won’t it be troublesome for you in the future? We’re terrifying when we hold grudges.”
“Do I look like someone who’d be afraid of that? And I don’t consider you lot to be villains.”
“What?”
“Calling yourselves villains when you just bully those weaker than you and play at being big shots in the alley. You’re just back-alley thugs.”
“Guh!”
“Real villains aren’t as weak as you. They wouldn’t settle in a backwater like this in the first place. You’re just trash that rolled in here because you weren’t capable enough. Got it?”
“Ack, gak.”
Iberis choked the man until he passed out. As much as he wanted to kill them all, he had to keep them alive for now since he’d confirmed there was someone behind this. That way, he could find the real culprit.
“Major!”
“Luke?”
Iberis turned his head at the voice from behind after throwing the limp man to the ground. It was Lucas.
“Are you alright?”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re lying, you’re injured.”
Lucas’s eyes hardened as he noticed the scratch on Iberis’s cheek. Not just his face, but his shoulder, arm, and thigh were also wounded. The gunshot wound on his shoulder looked particularly concerning.
“What’s this? Did you freeze the wound?”
“Ah, to prevent the poison from spreading… It’s nothing.”
“How is it nothing? You’ve been poisoned!”
Lucas, raising his voice without realizing, quickly called for a military doctor. Then he carefully examined the wound again.
“We’ll do first aid on the thigh and arm here, but it would be better to detoxify the shoulder after returning to the unit. Let’s treat the cheek right now.”
Lucas quickly applied disinfectant and ointment to the wound on Iberis’s face. He even went as far as to put a bandage on it.
“How did the task I gave you go?”
Feeling awkward, Iberis fiddled with the bandage on his cheek as he asked. Usually, a wound like this would just get some ointment and be done with, but Lucas seemed to be making too much fuss. However, it didn’t feel particularly bad.
“All the residents here have been evacuated, and all the injured have been transported to the hospital.”
“Is that so? Good job.”
Iberis smiled faintly, seemingly satisfied with Lucas’s report. Then he hesitantly opened his mouth.
“…Are there any casualties?”
“There are no fatalities so far.”
“Really?”
“Yes. There are several severely injured, but their lives don’t seem to be in danger. However, there’s a high possibility that people might be trapped under collapsed buildings, so we’ll need to search. It might be better to leave this part to the rescue team and police.”
“I see.”
Iberis nodded slightly and glared at the villains sprawled on the ground with cold eyes. Lucas’s gaze followed his.
“What are you going to do with them?”
